A drive device of this generic type is illustrated e. g. in EP 1 979 182 B1. In this drive device ropes are run over an upper deflection device and a bottom deflection device, wherein the top deflection device is simultaneously configured as a drive roller. The lower deflection device is also configured as a roller whose diameter is larger than a width of the slider measured transversal to the movement path. A roller diameter is size adapted to requirements of the drive rope. The drive rope has to be supported with a minimum radius in order to accommodate a bending elasticity of the drive rope.
Since the slider is moved in a support tube whose diameter is adapted to a diameter of the slider and the slider has an accordingly reduced opening width compared to a diameter of the deflection device the drive rope has to be returned in a direction of the movement path of the slider or the rod attached at the slider after the drive rope has run over the deflection roller so that the rope runs in the support tube. For this purpose the housing supporting the lower deflection device includes a so called return device. This is a neck shaped housing section in which the housing diameter is tapered relative to the diameter of the deflection device. In this neck section the drive rope slides over an inner housing surface which is used as return section.
Running the rope over the deflection device and the return section has proven to be a down side of the prior art. The rope is run in an S-shape with comparatively tight radii. The occurring cyclic bending loads reduce the service life of the drive rope.